The present invention relates to methods of and devices for assisting in the stopping of nose bleeds; being more particularly directed to compressible bandage devices insertible within the nose to stop epistaxis once it has started.
While the medical art is replete with techniques and devices for compressing and/or chemically vasoconstricting ruptured blood vessels, the problem of providing for ready control of nose bleeds, and by the patient himself or herself, still plagues the art. Simple compression of the appropriate blood vessel will stop bleeding provided it can be reached; and if bleeding has stopped for six to nine minutes a small clot will form which may be uncomfortable and otherwise undesireable. Many techniques, moreover, including applying cold to the back of the neck, backwardly depressing the head, stuffing cotton or other absorbing dressings within the nostrils, may acutally be contraindicated for many nosebleeds; and yet, they are almost universally tried and with less than the desired satisfaction.
Examples of topical dressings previously proposed more particularly for other parts of the body are the pressuresensitive dressings of U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,249,109, and 3,342,183, which may include a medicament such as epinephrine, methylaminoaceto-catechol-HCl, or a similar vasoconstrictor; and anti-hemorrhage dressings or pads such as those of U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,024,491, 2,163,588 and 3,386,440. Clamp-type devices or clips for enabling the introduction of an active medical substance to different body parts, including within the nose, have also been proposed as described, for example, in U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,620,795 and 3,788,296.
None of these techniques or devices, however, is applicable to the solution of the problem underlying the present invention which, according to the invention, makes particular use of the largely ignored fact that over ninety percent or more of all nose bleeds occur from the anterior aspect of the nasal septum. More specifically, there is a confluance of blood vessels from the nose and inner nose (and lip) at the so-called Little's area in the interior cartilage septum below the nose bone end. The vessels in the Little's area of the flexible septum are distributed as a surface network of fine, weak arteries; and it is these, and not the larger vessels, that usually rupture and cause most of the nose bleeds.